We know, we know, you’re sick of the snow, but in a month, you’ll be singing another tune when a March snow makes its debut on our stage: our upcoming production of Snow White, which is as warm and fun as our current weather is not. One of the faces you’ll see in a leading role in this play is also our February YP of the month! This young man has been on our stage a few times, and has demonstrated tremendous range during that time. I’m convinced it’s his sick life goal to see audience members cry – what a monster – and he’ll do that either with a gutting dramatic take on a lonely character in a play like Grounded, or he’ll bring you to tears of laughter with a ridiculous comedic turn in The Three Musketeers. In our rehearsal hall, though, he’s all love and support and we are truly grateful to him for all of the good will he puts into our little CYPT family. Whether he’s a performer, a director, or a KICKIN camp volunteer, we can’t get enough of him, and we absolutely can’t wait for his performance in Snow White and for his upcoming Cannonball show!

And who is this fabulous, fantastic and FIERCE friend? February’s YP of the Month is none other than…

Ben Gaudet!!!

Ben honestly has no idea what he would be doing if he didn’t have
theatre in his life. The mix of a welcoming and supportive environment; awesome
people and finding a new passion hooked him from the moment he started.
 Only a few rehearsals into The Three Musketeers, his first show,
he knew he’d found a home.  

Although Ben has only been with CYPT for a little over three years, it feels to him like it’s been so much longer.  You might have seen him in roles such as the overly enthusiastic and underly intelligent Anthony in Cannonball 2017; the ever-sad and poetic Eleo Thompson, or (if you’re really lucky) the surprisingly-adequate-or-so-he’s-told camp volunteer for CYPT’s summer camps in 2018.  He’s currently in rehearsal for Snow White as Hunter, a role he’s both very excited about and challenged by. Ben is also part of the writing/directing team for 2012, a Cannonball play about the almost end of the world.

Ben is immensely thankful for everything CYPT has done to help him
learn and grow not only as an artist, but as a person.  The people he’s
met and opportunities he’s been given continue to blow him away, and he’ll be
forever grateful for that day he walked into Birds and Stone theatre with
nothing but a Satan monologue and no clue how much his life was about to change
for the better.  

In his spare time Ben enjoys things like listening to and playing
music, albeit without any excess of skill.  He also spends a lot of time
complaining about the weather or reading good books. He has no clue what
mainstream culture is and practically lives in his basement.  He is also
definitely not an arsonist.

“I think theatre is human in a way that no other art form can be.  It allows for a very unique connection not only with the audience, but with other performers and parts of ourselves.”

Ben Gaudet